Saving Money

Sorry if you clicked on my link about Saving Money or Gardening. That was a topic that I talked about last week. You can definitely help me out in that category too because that applies since we garden!

Yesterday, I was thinking about what I wanted to write about and I was thinking it was going to be about controlling the masses of laundry that accumulate in this house. I was out browsing a bit and I found this awesome post and comments on what others do to make it through their laundry in a week in a way that keeps their lives sane and house picked up. So one dilemma solved and onto another.

My husband and I do a lot of things to save money. One of the small things we have done is to buy those little weird shaped light bulbs that take half an hour to warm up to get to full brightness. (I do not complain about those in the morning at 4:40 when I wake up and walk into the bathroom!)

Another thing that we do, which is really difficult for me is to use the envelope system in the areas where we spend too much. That has helped control spending quite a bit. I would love to know what you do to control spending and even save in your home. It can be in the house, on cars or any "light bulb moment" (no pun intended :)) that you have had in saving money.

By the way that is a picture of me and my family in Branson, Missouri on vacation. . .one of the things that we would like to do again this year if we can save the money! So come on with all of your awesome ideas.

Menu Plan Monday - March 3rd

Yay, it is Monday and I get to plan my menu. This week I am trying to be a bit better on the health side of things. I just did my BMI on a website and it thinks that I need to be back at my teenager weight. The nerve! So, minus Monday's fish sticks and french fries I think it is fairly healthy. Oh and forget that little thing about the Spanish Flan too, ok? :)

Monday - Fish Sticks, French Fries, Coleslaw. . .we have small group tonight and need something simple. Fish Sticks were on my Grocery Game List this week. Cheap and Simple = Monday!
Tuesday - Saffron Rice, green beans mixed with Worcestershire, butter and brown sugar, rolls Simple Whole Roasted Chicken,
Wednesday - pancakes, sausage, fruit kabobs
Thursday - Sarah's Musings had this recipe up this morning for her Saturday meal and my daughter is a feta lover and will LOVE this meal. Mediterranean Greek Salad, I may try the Souvlaki as well, that looks pretty tasty. Thanks Sarah!!!
Friday - Homemade Pepperoni Pizza
Saturday - can we eat pizza again? Probably not, guess I will go with Chicken Quesadillas and Spanish Flan, and Mexican Layer Dip,
Sunday - Trusty, Rusty Taco Salad!

Have an excellent week (hopefully eating at the dinner table with your family.) We really try to go this route, but sometimes on Fridays we plop by that ole tv. I thought maybe this week I would put our fun place mats out. What are some things that you guys do to encourage eating at the dinner table? Make sure to check Organizing Junkie for more fantastic menu plans!

Keeping Communication and Encouragement at the Heart of the Home

Valentine's Day has come and gone. . .the pressure if off of the guys and the moms can get back to normalcy. This year, we used Valentine's as an opportunity to kick off some good communication and encouragement in our home. I purchased these mailboxes at Target before Valentine's Day and we decorated them for Gretel's class. It was a really fun thing and now we are using them at home to give each other mail.

I don't know about you, but I love getting mail, especially sweet notes from my kids. We each have our own mailbox and the love just continues. If you have ideas on how you have improved communication and encouragement in your home, I would love to hear from you.

As always, check out more Works for Me Wednesday ideas at Shannon's blog, Rocks in My Dryer.

My Garden Plan

I have been working up to this for awhile and decided to just put all of my thoughts down. While my husband and I love people and ministry opportunities we desperately need to recharge our batteries sometimes. We have found a few ways that we enjoy recharging. For me it is definitely gardening. Even though it is quiet time away from phones and computers I enjoy visiting with my neighbor who gardens as well. We have a vegetable garden, a water garden as well as a couple of flower gardens. My hope this year is that all of my gardens are even better (and more) than last year.

So this is the plan to get there:

· Plant seeds to grow indoors

While I have bought some starter material from Spend Mart Wal Mart, I have also been perusing the internet to find inexpensive containers to start seeds. This site has a lot of great ideas for seed containers and this is a site linking to a really cool garden girl that I have started reading regularly. The other dilemma I have is not enough places to set up seed starting areas. I am contemplating clearing off a couple of shelves and buying some fluorescent lights like this guy.

· Get soil tested at Co-Op. There was a big write up in our local newspaper about the tests that the Co -Op offers as a free service.

· Need to plant hostas in the shade around two of my trees. I plan on ordering them from Burpee and they will be delivered when time to plant.

Another favorite of mine is herb gardening. It is really easy as long as you have a good spot. Also, you have to keep in mind what herbs need space and which ones know their boundaries. Mint is especially bad about getting in the other herbs bubbles. We have to put him in a round pot every year so that he will mind his manners.

I would like to not only add to my herb collection but to dry them to use throughout the year.

My neighbor came over yesterday and she asked if I would like to share a truckload of dirt. That would probably be a really good thing too because dirt is expensive, especially good dirt. It would be really helpful to improve the quality of my soil. So one more point to add.

· Get better dirt!

I am sure that as the Spring keeps a comin' that I will be adding to this list but this is a great start for kicking off the planting season. Don't ya think. So what is your plan to beautify your outdoors as well as give you a recharge this Spring? I would love to know.

Menu Plan Monday-I am Back!

Took a bit of unpaid bloggy sick leave last week! We ended up eating out like three times this week and we never do that. Between having stomachs that felt a little off and no menu planned things were wild. So, I'm back and hope to not be down again. . . . for awhile at least!

Monday - Chicken Quesadillas on the George Foreman
Tuesday - Roast, carrots and Texas Toast
Wednesday - Omelets, biscuits. . .maybe some gravy for my gal. . .my gal likes her some gravy!
Thursday - Either a Sonic stop or moochin off the in-laws until Sunday
Friday - moochin
Saturday - still moochin
Sunday - Taco Salad or Chili

I missed you Menu Plan Monday! I will be with you till the very end.

Spring's A Comin'

. . .I know it is because I signed my kids up for T-ball and baseball today. They start their first practice around Spring Break so I know Spring will be here before we know it. I can't wait, I tell you! Between colds and being stuck in the house I am itchin' for the warm air to curl between my little barefoot toes.

My kids are ready to practice their ball skills. They ran outside to get a head start on the season and were back in within 30 minutes with frozen hands. Not quite flipflop time yet kiddos! :) Soon, very soon, though.

Sick Cravings

I have a lot of sick cravings like bags and bags of chocolate covered peanut butter and mounds of chips and dip. But what I really mean is . . ..what do you crave when you are sick? Obviously, you probably do not crave much when your head is stuffed down inside the porcelain throne with stomach issues. But, when you have a run of the mill cold or even the after-effects of the flu, what do you crave?

Personally, my mom, although incredible in many other areas, was not a homemade chicken soup kind of girl. She specialized in Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Ocean Spray Cran Apple Juice. So, that's what I crave when I am sick.

This past week, my girl and I were honored guests of Mr. Flu Bug. My hubby managed to escape him and was nominated as doctor, cook and fetcher to my daughter and I while we visited with Mr. Flu. Prince Charming made many trips to El Kroger to make sure that our habitat was well equipped. While I am better, my girl still has fever and is on the mend. I wonder what she is going to crave when she is an adult and gets sick. Probably M & M's .. .just kidding, I don't feed her that when she is sick! :()

So what do you crave when you are sick? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Saving Money on Gardening

I really wanted to post on the wonders of Mucinex, Dayquil and Nyquil, but I figured you might already know about those things and they might be already working for you.

This is my newest passion that I will be delighting you with. Every year I spend a small fortune in half grown flowers. To me, part of the joy of gardening is seeing something beautiful come from an itty bitty teeny tiny seed. So with my frugal genetics (which are few and far between) combined with my need to see the seedling I decided to ring in the Spring garden a little early this year. . .INDOORS. I bought six flower seed packs that are all perennials (6.00), a Jiffy seed starter container (10.00) and a seed disperser(2.00). This bought me 72 flowers that I already planted and probably another 72 with all of the seeds that I have left. I was thinking of starting another batch after these leave the nest. :)

I want you to look carefully at the picture of the one of the peat pots. It has about 56 million plants in it. That is not what the seed disperser is supposed to do. I still have not decided if that was "user error" or not, but if you ask me it did not work properly. Only about 2-3 seeds should go in each peat pot. Go figure!

My hope is that my garden will be a Spring wonderland of color, beauty and cheap flowers! :)
Check out other great Works for Me Wednesday ideas at Rocks in My Dryer.

Under the Weather

I want to post but my mind is foggy. I have something. . .I think it's the flu. This is going to be my third day in bed. My tissues have taken over the house. I can't wait to feel better. Promise to post something grand when I feel better.

Shaping Up Kids Attitudes

I have been savoring this moment and blog post for a couple of weeks. We started a new incentive in the house. It all began with a little tete a' tete with hubs. . .aka problem-solver- extraordinaire. I was fed up and whining to him while my kids were in AWANA and we were having a "date" over coffee and one slice of pie. (I ate the whole piece without offering him a bite-stress eating, right?.)

"The kids have been disrespectful, whiny and I am fed up." I wonder who they got that from? Never mind that. . ."what are we going to do about it??!!"

He carefully analyzed the situation as he sometimes does with my emotional outburst. He said, "Well, I think we have given them too many privileges that they do not know how to act. They wake up to TV each day, they do not help out around the house enough and they know if they ask long enough they will get their way. We just have to step back from some of those things that they think they deserve and give them some direction." Then the lightbulb was not only lit up above his head, it got brighter. "How about a "Good Job Jar?"

Hmmm. . .now you have my attention. He said, "what if we give them each a container and everytime they whine or are disrespectful in some way, let's tell them to take out money. When they do something without asking, are kind, helpful or even positive then lets give them three of whatever we determine is the right amount." Hmmm. . .I think it's going to work.

As soon as they got in the car from AWANA that night we started talking with them and then when we got home we layed it all out. This is how the Good Job Jar works.

• Give them a jar or let them design one.
  
• Have a jar set up for you that has extra pennies in it.
  
• Give them 10 pennies (which really equal dimes, but we did not have enough dimes to work with) to start with.
  
• Explain that if they have any kind of misbehavior you ask them to take a penny out. Don't do it for them. . .they need to feel the loss.
• If they have any exceptionally great behavior they get to put 3 pennies in.
• At the end of the week they can count their pennies and I will give them that amount in dimes or dollars if it equals that.

These are the important rules that they must remember. If they compare pennies they have to take one out. They may not ask with words for a penny for good behavior.

We have really seen an improvement in the last couple of weeks that we have been doing this. We rewarded them a lot on the front end so that they would get the idea. I would much rather spend my time encouraging behaviors, then have to harp on the all day about being more obedient. Obviously, we have only been doing this for a couple of weeks and I believe you have to change your system up when they have mastered one. But for now, this works for me immensely. Last week, I got to give them $3.00 each for their hard work, respectful attitudes and amazing manners. Ahhh. . .the satisfaction that we all have.

While our usual hostess with the mostest is out of the country, Melanie from Don't Try this at Home is generously hostessing this round of Works for Me Wednesday. Check out more grand ideas there.

Have a great day and Happy Shaping Up Your Kids Attitudes!

Happy Birthday, Lynn!

Lynn gets a Happy Birthday post because she checks my site regularly and is a dear friend. Love you girl and hope you have a fabulous day today! She is the second one on the left in the white top. Happy Birthday cute gal!

Menu Plan Monday

It's that time again. Time to plan my menu! I am super excited this week and you are about to find out why.

Monday - Small group. . .hmmm something easy. How about chili, fritos and cheese! :)

I am going to make Cream Cheese Squares and coffee for my Small Group. Cream cheese really unites people! :)

Tuesday - Sesame Chicken

Wednesday -Chicken and Mushrooms
4 ckn breasts
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
uncooked bacon
pkg. mushrooms

Wrap bacon around chicken (1-2 pieces) and lay on bottom of pan. Slice mushrooms and put them on chicken. Mix cans of soup and spread them on chicken. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve with Rice.

Thursday - Heart Shaped Pancakes with Reese's Peanut Butter Chips. Oh MY!!! If you like Peanut Butter, these will speak to your soul. Serving with bacon and strawberries.


One of my friends has a lake house and has generously allowed us to use it for the whole weekend! Hubs has someone lined up to preach for him. Wow what a weekend! Don't know what the kids are going to be eating. . .mom, don't forget to feed my kids. They are not too picky, but Gretel says that she is allergic to hot dogs and milk. :)

Friday - Steak/Twice Baked Potatoes/Salad and Spanish Flan for dessert

Saturday - Stir Fry-we love to chop vegetables and cook together-one of our newlywed things that we used to do. . .a couple that cooks together stays together. . . :) Just made that one up. Can you tell?

Sunday - lunch out/dinner -probably hot doggin it! Sorry Gretel.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Valentine's Day. If you are looking for some fun Valentine linkage, check out My Sunday's Best-Valentine Edition.

My Sunday Best-Raisin' Kids

Kids. . . wonderful kids. They are such a joy . . .I almost typed job there and that would have been correct as well. When I think of my kids and how amazing they are I also get the mixed up feeling that we are not doing something right. There is still this edge to them that I want trimmed off. I am sure that the good Lord is saying that about me too as I type. With the responsibility of kids, I always have this added weight on me. Yes, it shows around my waistline, but it shows up in my prayer life as well. We are always striving (and will until the day we leave this crazy earth) to be parents that are worthy of the calling.

Here are some links that we as parents are always checking back in with to make sure that we are on course and I found some fun ones this week on my regular blogging rants.

1. How do I teach my kids about money?

2. How do I raise healthy kids both emotionally and spiritually? Great tips here for teenagers!

3. This is a regular newsletter that I get. They offer families a way to discuss films as well as culture with your kids.

4. What is a great book that offers creative disciplining tactics for parents? The fun part is that it is written by Blair off of The Facts of Life. Now she is a cool gal!

5. What is a great way to teach your kids manners?

This is what $28 will buy ya where I live. . .

Yesterday, I had a day off. It was blissful. On Fridays, my routine goes a little something like this. . take Gretel to school, pray with some amazing ladies from my church and then ride the waves of freedom while my Prince Charming teaches Science and Music.

I shopped with my envelope full of $28.00. Yes, we do the envelope system. If you have never been tortured by experienced the Envelope System it helps to control spending in certain categories of your budget.

Anyway, back to the original intent of this post . . to celebrate what $28 got me yesterday. This is a picture of it. The most expensive part of my purchase was indeed the wooden caddy from an antique store in town. The moment I saw it, it opened opportunities I had never experienced before. I saw little candles in each of the compartments with a festive bow at the top. Then my imagination took me to the possibilities of a silverware caddy when my friends are over feasting with us. Where does your decorative mind take you when you look at this?

The clothes I bought at a place kind of like Goodwill. Yes, I shop at Goodwill from time to time. No shame in my game! I am a smart girl with a shopping habit and $28.00 in my envelope so don't mess with me! :) All of $7 I spent there. I bought 1 fancy shirt, a pair of workout pants, a black cardigan, and a little vest thingermajiger.
One of my other, but most intense shopping issues is a fabric fetish. The place that I go to is the most amazing fabric warehouse. Even the little ladies that do not live in my area were commenting yesterday that they have never seen so much fabric before. It is wall to wall with upholstery, sheers, and other sewing paraphernalia. One of the ladies said as she was weeding through the dollar pile, "No reason for anyone to be cold. . . all you need is a needle and some thread." I wholeheartedly agree. No reason for any pillows to not be cute or a window to be bare. :) This pretty much concluded my shopping after I spent a whopping .54 cents on that cute fabric to cover a couple of pillows for my bed.Every town and city has their own charming places to shop. Where are the places that you like to shop and get bargains on? I would love to know. Leave a comment and maybe you and I can go there together some time!

Have an awesome Saturday.

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Do you hear me singing as I type? The hills are alive with the sound of music. . . .

Shopping makes me sing. Online shopping makes me sing louder and "purtier!" That is a word where I am from.

Lately, every time my hubs gets home he is greeted with a box that says Coldwater Creek. They just have these nasty email updates that say, 300 Hottest Deals in Outlet and I just can't resist! The reason I like them so much is because they fit my little odd shaped body. I have big hips but I am short! Their clothes fit right.
Word of caution: You do have to weed thru the little ole' gray hair ladies section first before you can get to the fun stuff.

Speaking of Valentines or Mother's Day I really like Snapfish or Shutterfly for fun gifts. Last year I made My Prince Charming a fun mug for Father's Day. It had this cute pic of some really cute kids collaged all over it.


Back in the day when I sold jewelry from Premier Designs (which was super fun by the way) I did my bulk shopping for give-aways and accessories at Wholesale Accessory Market. It truly is eye candy when the screen pops up. I believe there is a $50 minimum order which should not be too hard if you really search around enough. Do not tell your husbands though or he may ban you from my site.

Also, I have a few of my favorite Valentine sites on My Sunday's Best Post. There are some free Valentine supplies on one of the sites.

Check out all of the other Works for Me Wednesday posts to find out what is putting everyone else on the edge of their seat as far as online shopping goes. Fun times we live in.

Scrapbooking for Dummies

Did I mention my scrapbooking retreat? I probably did not talk too much about it because I was embarrassed. I am just now crawling out of my closet of shame.

You see, I was invited by my one of my roommates from college to attend her semi-annual scrapbook retreat that she helps to host. She asked me back in like September and the retreat was not until January. I thought to myself, what's the big deal? Why would you need to sign up five months early to get a spot for something like that, but she was pretty emphatic that we reserve our spot quickly if we were interested.

A little bit about me. I love to collect paper and stickers. Very seldom do I actually use them. I have "Scrapbooked" a time or two so I thought. Mainly, if you know me, this will not come as a surprise, I like people and I like to talk. That's it, that was my motivation for signing up so quickly. Forty-five women to talk to. Yay!

Well, let me tell you what a big deal this scrapbooking retreat was! I just did not know there were such people out there so interested in their "hobby" to have special cup-holders to hold their drinks in while they cut paper. And much to my dismay and utter shame I wheeled in my American Tourister luggage (shown on the bottom left hand corner of the pic) full of scrapbooking supplies. I was even a little impressed with myself that I even thought to put my "scrapbooking" supplies in such a handy device. Well, if you don't know I will let you in on a secret. They have scrapbooking carrying cases just for your scrap-booking supplies. Many of them go by the code name, Crop in Style.

Alright, now that I have let you in on the secret you can imagine my face when I walked in on about 45 ladies scrapbooking that had walked in earlier with these and these. Yeah, I was one of the last ones to arrive and they had been there all day and I made my GRAND ENTRANCE with my American Tourister Luggage BABY.

Many of them brought their own cut-out machines called Cricuts. Well, where I am from, you hear those at night, not on the table while you are cutting out paper. Girls, it was a real wake-up call to me to be around such classy scrapbookers. I learned a few tricks of the trade like how to make a sticker out of ANYTHING! People kept saying, "Could you pass the Xyron!?" I didn' t even know what language they were speaking. . .I guess scrapbookease.

It was super fun because my original goal was still being met. To sit there for almost 48 hours straight talking with women about all kinds of things. The biggest reward of the whole weekend was the intense love I felt coming home to my kids and husband. I had been looking at thousands of pictures and recounting all of the memories that my family and I had shared over the last year. It was an amazing weekend . . .even if I am a big ol' dummy when it comes to scrapbooking.

Menu Plan Monday

Oh my, I am so behind! Usually, I have my menu planned out on Sunday evening. We celebrated the Super Bowl with my wild friends from church last night. We had a blast, but I had a major dip hangover this morning! I did not wake up until 10 minutes before Gretel had to be at school. Not the way to start a Monday! Oh well, hopefully we will be back on track before long.

Hansel has been awesome to help me this morning. He is serving as my secretary in going through the large amounts of papers that I have accumulated. He also, without asking and trying to avoid school work, worked on cleaning Gretel's room. Amazing kid!

So here goes my menu for the week.

Monday – hotdogs/leftover dip

Tuesday – Mushroom Chicken from Lazy Day Cookin' Slow Cooker Meals (have not tried this yet, so wait on my review until you try it, ok?)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg. dry chicken gravy mix

10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom

1 cup white wine

8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

Put chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle gravy mix on top. In separate bowl, combine soup and wine and pour over gravy mix. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking time, stir in cream cheese. Before serving, remove chicken (keeping it warm) and whisk the sauce until smooth. Serve chicken and sauce over noodles or rice.

Wednesday – pancakes/fruit and bacon (prep lasagna)

Thursday – lasagna/salad/garlic bread (this is one of my favorite recipes and the best/easiest lasagna ever)

1 lb. bulk sausage

8 oz. small curd cottage cheese

1 egg

1 lb. grated mozzarella cheese

1 jar (32 oz.) Ragu chunky garden style spaghetti sauce

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Make meat sauce by combining sausage and spaghetti sauce. Create cheese sauce by pureeing cottage cheese, sour cream, egg and Parmesan cheese in blender. In greased 9 X 13 put enough meat sauce to cover bottom of pan. Layer UNCOOKED noodles, 1/2 meat sauce, 1/2 cheese sauce, 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering again ending with mozzarella cheese. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I usually make two batches of this to freeze for later or for a friend in need.

Friday – homemade pizza

Saturday – chili or leftovers

Sunday – Taco Salad

And the Winner Is. . .

Drumroll please!

After plugging in the random number picker. . . #43 is the winner of the $15 Sonic Card. Helene from The Sun-Kissed Home, as well as her blog, Plato's Kitchen won the prize. Congratulations, Helene!

Thank you for visiting Clappy Shoes and I hope that you will be a regular "checker" of my site. I love blogging and I hope you love reading my blog.

My Sunday Best-Valentine Edition

This picture is of Prince Charming's Grandparents. I adore them. They are rock solid, still growing in the Lord and have a very sweet marriage. I praise God for marriages like these to look to as an example. Thank you for persevering Grandma and Grandpa!

What do men really need and what makes them really happy? This is a great blog! She is a wife and mother to five kids! Simply Amazing!

What does Donald Trump really think of marriage? There is a bad word on this site, if you can blind yourself and look on the 10th personal quote you will see his thoughts on marriage.
Note to self: Do not think Donald Trump holds the answer to marriage.

Have some extra money this Valentine's? Personalize your M & M's!

Need help with a marital issue? Check out this website for resources to help you through the hard times as well as to improve your marriage during the easy times. Is there such a thing? :)

Romantic Freebies. . .print out love coupons, free ebooks,romance plans, love puzzle, etc. This is Christian site based on the books of Lorraine Pintus and Linda Dillow. They have really helped to change my perspective of romance in a Christian marriage.

Ok, now that you are all prepped for Valentine's Day. . .make an action plan and give your hubbie the best of you! My prayer for you this year is that your marriage will be everlasting and full of beauty. Have a great week and stay tuned for the next episode of My Sunday Best!

Super Bowl Double Dipping Warning

According to Wikipedia the definition of Double dipping is as follows. . ."Double-dipping can refer to an offense derived from the unsanitary practice of placing food back into a communal bowl after it has touched a person's hands and/or mouth, i.e. dipping a carrot stick in vegetable dip, biting it, and dipping the remaining piece of carrot back into the communal dip. This causes the communal bowl to become contaminated by whatever was in the person's mouth, making it communicable to anyone who uses the bowl afterward."

I did add the bold and italics because I was shouting at that point.

To me, double dipping is one of the ugliest offenses out there. When I got married and had kids I realized there were a couple of other attacks on my Sanitary List of No-No's that were pretty high up on the list. Unfortunately, for my sanitary practices and fortunately, for my character building, double dipping is not a federal offense to the rest of my family.

This post stands as a warning and reminder to those who are teachable. My father-in-law forwarded the following article to me because he knows how important my stance is on "Double Dipping" in which he was caught "in the act" this past weekend. He must be filling the weight of his sin! You ask, is this really worth blogging about? Well, read for yourself how "Bad" double dipping can be. Are you interested in kissing everyone in the room that you are double dipping with? Hmmm. . .something to ponder. Check out the article link.

Sea-Monkey Sadness Strikes Again

Does anyone know how to clean up Sea-Monkeys off of an upholstered couch?

Tragic. . .so tragic that my son was looking for wet paws on the cats to see who committed the crime. Hansel and I walked in after taking Gretel to school and saw a puddle on the floor. I quickly deduced either cat pee pee or a spilled cup. . .either caused by cat naughtiness! Nope, neither one, our poor Sea-Monkeys had been washed ashore onto the back of the couch. Our minute pets had no hope of making it once again in my home.

Yes, I said once again. When I around the age of seven I had my very own Sea-Monkeys. You see, I was trying to keep up the Sea-Monkey tradition with my daughter, but not the part where they depart! My Sea-Monkeys developed some kind of cancerous growth and died quickly. My seven year old brain wanted justice so I wrote the Sea Monkey company a quick letter.

Dear Whom This May Concern,

My poor sea monkeys died. I would really like for you to replace my sea monkeys or give me my money back.

Sincerely,

What did the company do. . .they wrote me back. They expressed their sympathy by returning the comment "I am sorry that your poor Sea-Monkeys died." and there they were. . . a replacement pack.

So I in keeping with tradition, I expressed my remorse to my daughter and offered her a replacement pack.

Easy W-2 Organization

I am so enamored with all of my prize give-away comments that I totally forgot today is Works for me Wednesday.

I have been thinking about how clever I am for the past few weeks though. You see, every year we have this issue. Actually, we have lots of issues every year, but never mind that. Anyway, my hubs always always always does our taxes. . . no matter how complicated they seem to be. If he were to suddenly disappear, Lord forbid be taken to Heaven. . .just so you know honey, we will hire out!

Anyway, again there is this deep strain in our marriage. I want the taxes done. . .ie money! But he has the same problem every year of finding the tax information that we have been receiving in the mail for the last month. This year I had the foresight to put an envelope on my desk of all of our 2007 W-2 and tax information. Now, aren't I clever. No excuses this year honey! It is all by the desk waiting for your magic tax wand! :) Love you! Hope this works for you, not necessarily this year, but for many years to come.

Sonic Card Give-Away Fun

Ok, I have been sitting here for two days reading all of the comments that you sweet ladies and I think I saw one guy :) have left about your favorite Sonic drink. Guess what I have thought about for two days straight!? McDonalds you say? No, they have the nastiest drinks (in my opinion.)

You guessed it, Sonic! So that is where we went after school today. I told the kids it was a reward for their hard school work. Do you see the sheepish grin on my face? That was part of it, I promise!

I think this give-away is going to cost more than I expected. As you read through the comments, look at all of those fun drinks that we need to try! And for you poor souls that have never even visited Sonic, I hope you win and if you don't try it out anyway! Just stick with the drinks that we have in the comment section and you can't go wrong.

I am dying to try the chocolate coke that several of you have mentioned. That sounds like a deadly combination! Yum.

Bloggy Give-Away-$15 Sonic Card

As I reading over the basic instructions for this bloggy give-away, Shannon said to give away something that is reflective of me. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for you a Sonic Card is reflective of me. We visit at least once a week for the very minimal drink during Happy Hour. We have "Happy Hour" in our town every day from 2-4 pm.

Please leave a comment telling me what your favorite Sonic drink is and you might be the lucky one to win a $15.00 gift card from Sonic. Imagine how many drinks that will get you as you are out running errands, picking up kids from school and the millions of other activities you will be participating in over the next month or so.

I will do a drawing Sunday, February 3rd. I will have the winner on my site as well as Rocks in my Dryer's winner announcements. Make sure to stop in at Rocks In My Dryer Bloggy Give-Aways and check out all of the other give-aways. You will not believe the amazing Bloggy Love going on around there. Happy Commenting.

Note: This give-away is for those who have a blog, as well as, those who do not!!!

UPDATE: This Give-Away is closed and Helene from The Sun-Kissed Home has taken the prize! Congratulations and thank you everyone who participated!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday – Turkey fajitas; refried beans
Tuesday – Easy Teriyaki Chicken (recipe below); rice;
2-3 lbs skinless ckn pieces
20 oz. pineapple chunks
Dash of ground ginger
1 cup teriyaki sauce
Place ckn in slow cooker. Pour remaining ingred. over ckn. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours; high 4-6 hours.
Making the dessert listed below for a meeting

Wednesday – AWANA – pancakes, sausage
Thursday – eating at a friend’s house
Friday – homemade pizza
(I get my bread crusts at Sam’s). This is a whole family (like extended family) favorite. There is something about this crust that makes the pizza amazing. They are called Dallas Gourmet Bakery’s Flat Bread and they are located in the fresh bread area.
We top them with tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, veggies like green peppers, onions, sometimes pineapple and Canadian bacon. Everyone who tries this at our house looks for the bread to be able to make their own.
Saturday – chili
Sunday – taco salad or leftovers

Special Dessert: Not sure what to call it other than Bowl of YUM! A friend of mine from church makes this and it is delicious.

In a trifle,
1st layer - crumble up brownie with walnuts (see note on Sam’s Club brownies, but add walnuts)
2nd layer – prepared chocolate pudding (large box of instant)
3rd layer – Cool Whip (1 8 oz. carton)
4th layer – Heath bar (1/2 to 3/4 bag)
5th layer – Cool Whip (another ¼ to ½ the container)
6th and final top layer – Heath bar (1/4 bag)

By the way, I do not live very close to a Sam's I just mooch off my mother-in-law or friends to take me when I am visiting them. Here's to being a great friend! :)